Time to say farewell

Oh well, time flew and we are now on our way back home. We spent almost two weeks in total in Louisiana, almost nine days in New Orleans. Most of it was about business, first, the tourism congress and, second, research for the guidebook update. Even the days at our friends' place we did research for the guidebook to some degree. There was no single day without sun in the morning, though we had two or three thunderstorms, and there was no day under 90 deg F. (32°C), rather more, and humidity of about 50 %.

N.O. did a great job in hosting more than 6000 participants of IPW and in organizing spectacular parties. The city has turned our really well after Kathrina, new neighborhoods are up and coming, like the Warehouse District, Bywater, Marigny or, though slowly, Mid-City and Central City. It's not the French Quarter exclusively anymore which attracts visitors, but also the distinct neighborhoods now. Which is good, because the French Quarter, esp. Bourbon Street, is not to everybody's taste and always crowded. New arts projects like the one on Poydras Street (see pic) were introduced, more (gourmet) markets coming up and the farm-to-table movement became more important.

There is, in general, a lot happening in the restaurant, bar and hotel scene, much more creative restaurants are coming up now, competing with the rather old-fashioned, stiff and very expensive "historic" places; same with hotels. Public transport may be a little bit of a problem in the city (always was), but a new streetcar line is under construction along Rampart Street. Also, the condition of roads (potholes) is an issue, which Mayor Landrieu just recently addressed. Another problem, he talked about, was "affordable living" for the lower-income population. Considering that over 50 % (!) of the male afroamerican population is unemployed, it's a necessity to not only build new fancy apartment buildings for the well-earning people, but to also provide cheaper housing for your regular New Orleanian. Another problem connected to the mushrooming real estate might be Airbnb and similar. Groups or businessmen buy apartments and rent them out by the day or by the week, making a lot of money that way. But, this approach won't help the neighborhood and the people there, because visitors don't care about homeownership issues.



Old and new, conservative and innovative, catholicism and a growing LGBT community, laissez-faire and old laws and rules ... New Orleans, The Big Easy, has it all and for sure the old lady got a facelift.

Criss-cross New Orleans

Couldn't have done all the walking in the last three days in these shoes, that's for sure. We have discovered them in a boutique in the French Quarter.

On Thursday, after breakfast with our friend Lisa in famous Café du Monde (beignets & chichory coffee, see pic) and some exploring of the French Market with her we moved to another hotel, The Whitney, which was, fortunately, not far away from the IPW hotel and we walked over with all our luggage and were, again, fortunate to get our room before noon. For the rest of the day we checked out museums, shops and restaurants in the French Quarter, visited the new Jazz Museum in the Mint, and explored adjacent Tremé and Marigny, both neighborhoods which formerly had a not-so-good reputation, but improved a lot in the last years. Of course, we had to spend time in our favorite record/CD store, the "Louisiana Music Factory", too. A muffuletta (a New Orleans version of an Italian sandwich, see pic) and a beer from Crescent Brewing Company made up our dinner this day.


Friday we had two tours: First, in the Ogden Museum, a highly interesting art museum focused on local (Louisiana & New Orleans) artwork. The great exhibitions and a very knowledgeable curator made it a real pleasure to spend almost two hours there.

After that, we checked out the surrounding Warehouse District - see pics above - whose name derives from its original function as an industrial storage area. This neighborhood is really up & coming, with new restaurants, bars, hotels and several museums, most important, the Ogden and the Confederate Museum (first pic), the Contemporary Arts Center and the still expanding huge WWII Museum, a big attraction for Americans, though not so much for Europeans.


Waiting for the bus ... waiting for public transportation is a popular pastime in New Orleans ... to Central City, where we had another tour in the new Southern Food & Beverage Center, a unique museum about food and drinks in the Deep South (see pics). This museum, the nearby new Jazz Market (a concert venue), the Dryades Market (pics) and a couple of restaurants and cafés push forward the development of this (predominantly working-class black) neighborhood around Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard.We also found great murals on our way (pics).

Magazine Street - crossing the Garden District - our next destination, also showed to have become even more attractive. Great shops and boutiques (pic), restaurants, galleries, cafés - unique stuff, not touristy and a great street to stroll along.

In the evening we met with our long-time friend Christine from the NOCVB at Tujague's, the second oldest restaurant in N.O., celebrating its 160th birthday. Being on the job for over 40 years, Christine was quintessential for us by letting us know in the early 1990ies how tourism offices are able to assist journalists. We spent a wonderful evening with BBQ Shrimps and Lumb Crabmeat & Wild Mushroom Gnocchi as appetizers and the restaurant's signature dish, Beef Brisket (see pic) and catfish as entrées, to go with the signature cocktail of Tujague's, a "Grashopper". N.O. is famous for its cocktails, from Sazerac to Hurricane and a lot inbetween. We sat a little on Jackson Square to watch people after dinner - what a mixed crowd!

Saturday morning - very hot again, like on the first days in New Iberia - we started with the Farmers' Market closeby the hotel. Fresh, seasonal, local produce - peaches, tomatoes, melons, shrimps etc. (see pics) being sold. Trying to get a bus to the Bywater neighborhood was a mistake (it never came), therefore we decided instead to take the red streetcar to City Park (pics).


We visited the N.O. Art Museum (nice and cool), the Sculpture Garden, and, checked out the nearby Botanical Garden.

Back to the city center, we had brunch at the Court of Two Sisters (see pic), a "historic" restaurant with a courtyard and a jazz band. Brunch is served buffet-style and though service wasn't outstanding, the food was excellent. To burn a few calories, we took a bus along Magazine Street to Audubon Park, the second large park in the city, with playgrounds, golf course, public pool etc. We walked across the park before we took the green street car along Canal Street - a good and cheap sightseeing tour - back to town. We bought some provisions and returned to the hotel to sort through paper stuff (had to get rid of a couple of pounds) and to pack our luggage.

Grand Finale

The closing party of IPW 2016, "Taste & Tunes of Louisiana" took place at the River City Complex, on the Mississippi River, a big event venue located next door to Mardi Gras World and not far away from the Convention Center. Mardi Gras World is a huge warehouse, where most of the parade floats for Mardi Gras are being built, a unique museum on its own and well worth a visit! The new events complex is part of the so-called "Riverfront Development", which will take place in the next years and will include new parks and buildings along the river.

The space, where the party took place consisted of a big inside ballroom (two floors) and outdoor event space. Two large stages were set up and different bands performed one after the other. Many food stands inside and outside served authentic New Orleans food (for the first time!): Boudin and Jambalaya, Andouille and Oysters, Muffalettas and Boiled Shrimps, King Cake, Pecan Brittle, Banana Fosters and Beignets from famous Café du Monde - it's been fantastic! The two historic paddle wheelers "Natchez" and "Creole Queen" were anchored on the river, in front of the building, and food and drinks was also served on board.


The music spectrum was broad, from Dixieland and Brassbands to Cajun and Zydeco, Jazz and Soul. To our great joy, our favorite Zydeco musician, Dwayne Dopsie, performed again, even laying down on the floor playing his accordeon (pic). We enjoyed music and good food in good company. There were psychics (a popular profession in N.O.!) reading the future of guests in tarot cards, glass balls or hands, alligators to pet and stilt walkers in fancy costumes.

The grand finale were fantastic fireworks over the Mississippi River and afterwards the two paddlewheelers departed with guests on board for a short float downriver. We walked home from the landing pier to the hotel, light-footed and good-humored after a great evening.

The whole U.S.A. in one place

Tuesday - press conferences, one after the other, starting at 8:30 am: Universal Studios, New York, Los Angeles, U.S. Travel Association etc. Lunch itself was not worth being mentioned (but considering the number of meals, no wonder), with the exception, that, again, New York again sponsored a big presentation of different broadway musicals, like Chicago or Wicked (pic: Joan Marcus, Broadway Collection). Can't imagine how much it must have cost to fly in the cast of all this shows! Las Vegas had a "different" press conference after lunch: with an "virtual dome experience" (a film presented in a domed tent) and with a chef flown in from Vegas' Emeril's restaurant (a famous chef from N.O. who operates several restaurants now) and a barkeeper from a famous bar in Vegas. Boy, money doesn't seem to be an issue in this business!

After lunch, media was for the first time allowed on the main exhibition floor, where all the boothes of the different destinations and companies were set up. We had a couple of appointments this afternoon, but also "walked the floor" saying "hello" to people we knew and to see who's there and what's going on at different places. There were more than 2.500 boothes set up in this huge hall and 6.000 attendees from 73 countries, including over 1.300 international and domestic travel buyers and over 500 media including about 20 from Germany were taking part at this congress organized by the U.S. Travel Association.